Cops say pot legalization hikes illicit dope business

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Keeping Boston Safe: Neighborhood Drug Control Unit Seizes 2 Guns and Over 3 Pounds of Marijuana in Dorchester: On Monday, July 9, 2018, members of the Citywide Drug Control Unit executed a search warrant at 2083 Dorchester Ave in Dorchester. As a result of the search, officers located and confiscated 3.5 pounds of a Class D Narcotic (Marijuana), 2 loaded firearms and several rounds of live ammunition. Additionally, officers arrested Giovanni Maldonado, 23, of Boston and charged him with the Unlawful Possession of a Firearm, Unlawful Possession of Ammunition and Possession with Intent to Distribute a Class D Drug (Marijuana). Courtesy of BPDnews.com

Police say a “gray market” of illegal pot dealing is “thriving” under the state’s marijuana legalization laws, and they’re concerned that it will boom as it has in states like California, where it is undercutting the licensed operations.

“If you look back at when the proponents proposed that we legalize marijuana in Massachusetts, one of the big things they stood by was that it was going to, and I quote, ‘Rid Massachusetts of the illicit market,’ ” said Carmichael, who is on the state’s Cannabis Advisory Board. “There’s nothing further from truth. It won’t rid us of the illicit market. It will make it much worse.”

The new law allows up to 12 plants in a home with two adults. Each adult in a home is allowed to possess 10 ounces of pot in addition to the plants. Home pot-growing operations in Quincy, Tewksbury, Springfield, Clinton, Rehoboth and other towns have been busted in recent high-profile cases that involved larger amounts.

But police chiefs say the new law makes it harder to arrest people unless they catch them in the act of selling.

“The illicit market thrives under legalization because they can do it under the guise of the law,” Carmichael said. “We created more problems than we could have imagined.”

Chelsea police Chief Brian Kyes said, “They could grow as much as they want until it’s brought to the attention of law enforcement.”

“There’s no reason to believe that will subside simply because of the availability for recreational marijuana,” Arlington police Chief Fred Ryan said, adding that he expects to see a rise in drug-related violence.

“The violence goes along with that business and we expect that to continue if not escalate,” Ryan said.

A quick Google search for “Marijuana delivery in the Boston area” brings up numerous entities that “will deliver marijuana to your front door,” Carmichael said. He noted his officers have arrested several online sellers. “Those are not regulated markets, they’re not retail markets, they’re not taxed markets. That is the illicit market.”

But Jim Borghesani, who served as spokesman for the Bay State’s legalization campaign and now works as the chief operating officer of Tudestr, a cannabis consulting company out of Boston, insisted that legalization will reduce the illicit market.

“It’s one of the primary benefits to knocking out the criminal market that has controlled cannabis commerce for decades,” Borghesani said.

“Why would you buy it on the street in an illegal transaction when you’re not sure the product you’re buying doesn’t have poison in it.”

Buyers can get pot products cheaper at illegal outlets that don’t charge or pay taxes, according to Adam Spiker, executive director of the Southern California Coalition, a trade organization that represents cannabis growers, distributors and dispensary owners. He called it an “unfair competitive situation for licensed businesses.” In Colorado, another legal pot state, news reports indicate police have seen illegal growing operations surge.

“The notion that the illicit market, the gray market is not going to exist now because we legalized marijuana and we’re going to have retail stores isn’t true, and there’s no evidence of anything like that remotely happening in other states,” Carmichael said.